Never Out of It: Scheifele Passes Hawerchuk as the Jets Erase a 4-0 Deficit and Beat the Blackhawks in a Shootout, 5-4

Down four goals on the road, with their starting goalie already on the bench, the Winnipeg Jets had every excuse to start thinking about their next game. Instead, they wrote one of the best nights in franchise history.

The Jets rallied from a 4-0 deficit to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-4 in a shootout Saturday night at the United Center, their sixth straight win, the Associated Press reported. Along the way, Mark Scheifele became the top scorer in Jets history.

For 30-plus minutes, this belonged to the Blackhawks. Tyler Bertuzzi, Anton Frondell, Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar all scored as Chicago built its four-goal cushion, Yahoo Sports reported. Patrick Kane circled the net and set up Bedard for his sixth goal of the season.

Winnipeg starter Stuart Skinner allowed three goals on eight shots in the first period and was replaced by Nico Daws, according to the AP. Daws was nearly perfect the rest of the way, stopping 12 of the 13 shots he faced.

Scheifele and Kyle Connor scored late in the second period to cut the deficit in half, and Cole Perfetti pulled Winnipeg closer in the third. Then, with Daws on the bench for an extra attacker, Gabriel Vilardi fired a shot from the right slot that tied the game 4-4 with 1:13 left in regulation, the AP reported.

After a scoreless overtime, Scheifele and Connor both scored in the shootout. Kane answered for Chicago, but Daws stopped rookie Roman Kantserov in the third round to finish it. It was the second time this season the Jets have come back from four goals down to win, the AP noted.

The comeback was the headline. The history was the story.

Scheifele finished with a goal and three assists, giving him 933 career points and moving him past Hall of Famer Dale Hawerchuk's 929 for the most in Jets history, NHL.com reported. Jets Nation, which covers the team closely, called the rally an epic comeback.

That matters in Winnipeg in a way it might not elsewhere. Hawerchuk was the face of the original Jets, the young star who gave a small hockey city a reason to believe it belonged in the NHL. Scheifele has spent his entire NHL career with the current Jets, through lean years and playoff springs alike. In an era when stars often chase the bigger market or the brighter lights, there is something worth honoring in a player who stays, works and becomes part of a city's identity. Loyalty is not old-fashioned. It is rare, and it deserves to be celebrated when we see it.

For the Blackhawks, the night was a painful reminder of how far a young team still has to go. The loss was their 10th in their last 12 games, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The Sun-Times argued that Scheifele's big night exposed Chicago's lack of a true shutdown forward who can slow down an opponent's best center when a game turns.

There were bright spots for Chicago. Bedard's goal and Kane's playmaking showed the kind of skill that can carry a rebuild, and the Blackhawks led 4-0 deep into the second period. But holding a lead is its own skill, and it is one young teams usually learn the hard way.

The Jets, meanwhile, are rolling. Six straight wins, two four-goal comebacks and a franchise record in one night is the kind of stretch that builds a team's belief in itself, and it came with a backup goalie making the key stops when it mattered most. Daws' steady relief work could give Winnipeg's coaching staff more confidence in its goaltending depth.

Chicago returns to work with a long list of things to fix and a young core that will have to learn to close games. For Winnipeg, the lesson of Saturday night is the one every coach preaches and every fan hopes to see: you are never out of it until the final horn.